Library Journal Inspector Erlendur is solo in this ninth series installment. The two Erlendur trademarks, his fascination with people disappearing in the Icelandic moors (primed by his brother Bergur's disappearance during a blizzard when Bergur was eight and Erlendur ten) and unsolved cold cases, are in full force. Camping out in the dilapidated remains of his childhood home, Erlendur has un-settling dreams of Bergur's disappearance. He is reminded by a local hunter of a young woman who, after purportedly setting off through the mountains to visit her sister in January 1942, disappeared when a blinding snowstorm materialized. Erlendur's curiosity gets the better of him, and he begins questioning the woman's few remaining relatives and longtime local residents, dredging up memories that to most of those involved are better left buried. But Erlendur is nothing if not persistent. VERDICT Having been absent in Indridason's previous two mysteries (Outrage; Black Skies), Erlendur's return will thrill fans. His doggedness and unconventional methods are in rare form. While series veterans get more insight on Bergur's disappearance, no knowledge of the backstory is required for full enjoyment of this satisfying mystery.-Edward Goldberg, Syosset P.L., NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list *Starred Review* Erlendur, the doleful Reykjavik police inspector (Outrage, 2012), has taken leave from his job to return to Iceland's remote Eastern Fjords. He is camping very rough in the collapsing remains of the farmhouse his family abandoned after his younger brother, Bergur, disappeared in a savage blizzard that Erlendur barely survived. Walking the moors, Erlendur meets an old man named Boas who took part in the search for Bergur, and the voluble Boas tells him of another disappearance. A woman named Matthildur set out for her mother's house in 1942 and disappeared in another blizzard. Erlendur begins to visit surviving people who knew Matthildur, and he ultimately stitches together a tale of lies, betrayals, and murder. But all the while, it is Bergur's disappearance and Erlendur's guilt that obsesses him. His interviews with people who knew Matthildur, all in their eighties and nineties, recall the voices of Norse sagas: pithy, concise, and very matter-of-fact about everything, including their own impending deaths. These encounters are brilliantly written, and the Matthildur case is wonderfully convoluted. The dour detective courts hypothermia each night in the farmhouse, has ethereal encounters with an augur from his youth, and finds some respite from his lifelong grief. Strange Shores reads as if it could be the last entry in the Erlendur cycle. If so, it's a superb end to a haunting series.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2010 Booklist